- Hon Shane Jones
The final approval of New Zealand King Salmon's Blue Endeavour open ocean aquaculture project is a significant step for New Zealand's aquaculture, and a win for the economy, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says.
"Blue Endeavour will be the first open ocean aquaculture salmon farm in New Zealand. It's going to provide more jobs for the Marlborough region and benefit our economy by providing sustainable kaimoana to the world," Mr Jones says.
The Blue Endeavour project will develop salmon farming in the open sea off the north Marlborough Sounds and is expected to produce 10,000 tonnes of harvested salmon annually, with export revenue of up to $300 million per year.
"While this is a huge step that will contribute to the government's goal to grow aquaculture to a multibillion-dollar industry, it's taken far too long to get to this point," Mr Jones says.
"The coalition government is committed to removing unnecessary barriers to make approval processes for projects such as this quicker and easier and, in doing so, a lot cheaper.
"There are currently too many hurdles causing delays for aquaculture projects, and these delays hurt our economy and the communities that rely on aquaculture."
New Zealand King Salmon submitted its application for resource consent to Marlborough District Council in 2019. Consent was granted in September 2023, following an Environment Court decision.
The Ministry for Primary Industries then assessed the proposal for its impact on fishing in the region and gave approval on 16 January 2024. Finally, there was a 30-day judicial period, which ended on 28 February 2024.
"New Zealand's seafood is sought after globally. I've long been a proponent of the expansion of our aquaculture industry and I look forward to seeing it contribute to our export-led recovery," Mr Jones says.
